Abstract

We describe progress in the fabrication of short-focal-length total-external-reflection Kirkpatrick-Baez x-ray mirrors with ultralow figure errors. The short focal length optics produce nanoscale beams on conventional ( long) beamlines at third generation synchrotron sources. The total-external reflection optics are inherently achromatic and efficiently focus a white (polychromatic) or a tunable monochromatic spectrum of x rays. The ability to focus independent of wavelength allows novel new experimental capabilities. Mirrors have been fabricated both by computer assisted profiling (differential polishing) and by profile coating(coating through a mask onto ultra-smooth surfaces). A doubly focused hard x-ray nanobeam has been obtained on the UNICAT beamline 34-ID at the Advanced Photon Source. The performance of the mirrors, techniques for characterizing the spot size, and factors limiting focusing performance are discussed.

Received 10 August 2005Accepted 19 September 2005Published online 07 November 2005

Acknowledgments:

Research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. The UNICAT facility at the APS is supported by the U.S. DOE under Award No. DEFG02-91ER45439. The authors thank Bennett C. Larson, Paul Zschack, Wenge Yang, Ralu Divan, Yujie Wang, Ray Conley, Jun Qian, Kristina Young, Derrick Mancini, and Jörg Maser for their help during this work.